Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth

Assassins
Sudesh’s Custom Missions Guide

This guide contains a list of all the custom stages that I, Sudesh
Sookdeo, have created for the PSone game, Tenchu 2: Birth of the Stealth
Assassins. It will describe what each stage has been designed around and
they have been ordered according to playability…i.e. the order in which the
stages should be played, when playing them for the first time.

Below is the list of stages that I have created, in any order, with original
titles:

• Ah Load ah Gohda <2006.08.19>

• Oni-Cavern <2006.05.07>
• The Final Test <2004.07.12>
• Azuma’s Love Letter <2004.04.19>
• Japanese Gladiators <2005.04.28>
• Kamadomatama <2004.07.10>
• Kagami’s Pay Cheque <2007.04.30>
• Bloooood Bath <2005.04.28>
• Hyosui-IcyWaters <2004.04.01>
• Japanese Gladiators 2 <2007.06.17>
• The Ninjitsu Scrolls <2005.01.04> (Note: Definitely ‘ninjitsu’ was
spelled wrong)
• House of Tohda <2007.08.15>
• Lost Scrolls of Hanzo <2006.09.24>
• Blade of the Boss <2007.08.09> (Note: Creation date should be
2007.09.09>)
• Yoshisada Massacre <2007.08.09> (Note: Creation date should be
2007.09.09>)
• Fall of Boron <2007.08.08> (Note: Creation date should be
2007.09.08>)
• No Place To Motohide <2007.08.08> (Note: Creation date should be
2007.09.08>)
• Byakko Stabber <2007.08.08> (Note: Creation date should be
2007.09.08>)
 • Ca’Run From Garan <2007.08.08> (Note: Creation date should be
2007.09.08>)
• Wang No Dahai Ding <2007.08.08> (Note: Creation date should be
2007.09.08>)
• Suzakukaboom <2007.08.08> (Note: Creation date should be
2007.09.08>)
• Ambush of Kamadoma <2007.08.08> (Note: Creation date should be
2007.09.08>)
• Kissed Azuma’s Girl <2007.08.09> (Note: Creation date should be
2007.09.09>)
• Stranded With Kagami <2007.08.09> (Note: Creation date should be
2007.09.09>)
• Genbu Trapped You <2007.08.08> (Note: Creation date should be
2007.09.08>)
• Sui Yuki Ukiyo-e <2007.08.20> (Note: Creation date should be
2007.09.20>)
• Blinded Liberty Lake <2007.10.??> (Note: See stage for remainder of
date)
• Hold On…I’m Lost!? <2007.10.??> (Note: See stage for remainder of
date)
Below is a list of all the above stages and their descriptions. The stages
below have been ordered according to playability when playing any stage for
the first time. In other words, if you’re about to play a particular stage,
please make sure that you have played all the previous stages (according to
the order of the list below) before playing that one.
Note: All stages and their concepts have been designed and created by me,
unless stated otherwise. Please give full credit when referencing any of them
or part thereof.

The following guide has been created as a result of detailed analysis of

the stages and so there is a good reason to listen and follow the hints and
guidelines…however, this only applies if you are playing any of the
below stages for the first time.

• Kamadomatama – This is a stage that concentrates on freedom;

freedom of movement, freedom of spacious atmosphere,
freedom of scenery.
Attributes: Pretty Stage, Minor Pathway Decisions, Motion
Freedom.
• Azuma’s Love Letter – This stage was created on the idea of
cramming as much as I could into a stage. I wanted to
max. the stage’s features that were provided and so I
wanted also for the player to experience all those
features for sure…so, I made little to no multiple-
pathways or motion freedom in this stage. Time
completion is also a feature so that I can force the players
to use one pathway to compare times with other players.
Attributes: Confinement, Restriction, Crammed Complexity,
Time Practice.

• Hyosui-IcyWaters – I mainly wanted to explore vortexes, however it

became more of a challenging stage, like Donkey Kong
Country etc. An advantage was the idea of players being
able to feel Cold Water. This was one of the first times I
noticed the problem of having too many enemies/NPCs
since loading them is a problem. Hint: If you turn up the
brightness of your TV set, you’ll realise how cool this
stage really is (pun intended). Personally, I hate vortexes.
Attributes: Confinement/Restriction of Pathways, Vortexes,
Cold Water!

• Bloooood Bath – This is just a ‘breather’ stage. I wanted to see what

would happen if I allow the player a bunch of enemies to
fight in an enclosed area. It turned out to be rather fun,
mostly due to its gameplay variety being different each
time (and also because of the immense bloodshed). I
didn’t know that this would be the basis for some of my
later “non-stages” which I now call “Boss-Battle Stages”…
which has a very high fun factor.
Attributes: One vs. All Arena Style, Fun with battle
Strategy, Blood.

• The Ninjitsu Scrolls – (yea, the spelling is supposed to be ninjutsu). I

was basically trying out new ideas in this stage. Also, I
wanted to make an Office Stage really quick. It was this
stage that drew my attention to the benefits of the
“Retrieve” 3 scrolls option; Player Choice that would
influence Multiple Pathways. There weren’t many multiple
 pathways in this stage compared to the amount In later
stages but the stage was made in the idea of freedom to
choose which scroll to go first for, hence creating/allowing
player choice and hence gameplay variety in the stage. I
also wanted to test stealth.
Attributes: Pretty Stage, Player Choice, Variety, Stealth.

• Oni-Cavern – Darkness! I wanted you to test your observation skills.

Hint: some players (I’ve noticed) don’t realise that if they
take time to stop, explore, take a relaxing look around,
they can notice stuff or develop a “sense of where you
are”. Learn not to be “lost” in the “dark”.
Attributes: Observation skills, Sense of Area/Location Skills,
Being Lost!

• The Final Test – This is it. I’m proud of this stage. Pass this test in
about 10mins (more or less) to be called a true Tenchu 2
player. (1) Tests player’s carelessness on heights/cliffs as
well as jumping. (2) Tests water skills like swimming and
a new corner-water rebound jump that I invented. (3)
Tests stealth amongst the innocent. (4) Tests player’s
ability to panic on trapdoors as well as jumping on them
(just take the time to turn on the trapdoor before
jumping, they take time to burst. (5) Observation skills
and jumping skills are tested in this last portion. By the
way, I also invented the corner-wall rebound jump…
apparently other people around the world have invented
it too.
Attributes: Stealth, Jumping, Swimming, Panic Results,
Carelessness, Observation, (and some speed of execution
of those things).

• Lost Scrolls of Hanzo – Like I said, the “Retrieve” option is ultra-

gameplay! After struggling to make a time in The Final
Test, this stage is a pleasing cool down. Just relax and
play it, the only non-relaxing thing may be when you’re
trying to get the red scroll. I took the beauty of the scroll-
effect (multi-pathway influence) and combined it with the
beauty of the Mountain stage to create one lush, green,
vista of a stage while increasing the gameplay and new
 variety up a level. This is truly a pretty stage with some
secrets.
Attributes: Pretty Stage, Player Choice, Observation Skills,
Time Strategy, (“fall from grapple attempt – hang on
edge” skill invented by me and invented from scratch, not
from accident. Oni-Cavern has this skill at the end of it.)

• Japanese Gladiators – You can actually go straight to trying this

stage after The Final Test. I got the idea partly from how
enemies sometimes don’t load and since American
Gladiators’ Eliminator Ending has pathways in the end
with some missing some gladiators, I thought it’d be cool
if I tried to recreate something like that. This stage is all
about time. You can use stealth (yes stealth) or just plain
speed to dust through this stage. (Hint: Hold R1 and keep
pressing X before the stage begins…this will turn the
player around and if done speedily, the 1st enemy will not
load!).
Attributes: Race to Finish, Replay Value, Time/Speed
Challenge.

• Ah Load ah Gohda – Ah load ah crap is what this one is. I kept it still
to show how character loading can cause a great/good
stage to fail. Definitely worth trying, not worth playing
again though. I wanted…well, just play it and you’ll see
what I wanted for this stage to succeed.
Attributes: Pretty Stage…Take Gohda for a walk?...

• Japanese Gladiators 2 – Just as fun as the first instalment…expect

more in this series.
Attributes: (Same as 1st), Multiple-Pathways.

• Kagami’s Pay Cheque – Based on an internet cheat (Tenchu 2

glitch). So…I cheated to do my time-attack. I won’t say
what I did obviously, just find out on your own! However,
this is one nice stage that feels almost as if you’re
infiltrating a boat/ship.
 Attributes: Pretty Stage, Cheating, Stealth, Multiple-
Pathways.

• House of Tohda – I’m definitely heading in the Multiple-Pathways

direction and this stage maximises this feature. Trying to
beat the time will influence you in choosing different
pathways each time. However, this stage has some
scenic beauty although it wasn’t my major focus…it’s
becoming natural.
Attributes: Nice Stage, obviously….Multi-Pathways!!!

• [Any Boss-Battle Stage: 12 in all] – These stages were created in

September 2007 and not in August, I made a mistake.
About 1 day after creating the stages, I realised the error
but couldn’t change it because of some beautiful times
that were saved. By the way, I designed and created all
the stages in 1 day (and about 2-3 more the next). I
noticed how boring a normal stage can get after playing it
over and over again trying to beat a time (from Amit)…
so…I analysed all my stages to see which ones had quick
replay value and why it/they had it. I noticed that
Bloooood Bath was on to something, it was similar to God
of War and Heavenly Sword and Samurai Warriors etc. So
the idea of Boss-Battles came to mind. Excellent replay
value, excellent gameplay variety (most likely an original
battle each time!) excellent fights! Everything worked.
Oh…important…you MUST forget making “times” when
playing these stages to get the best fun and variety out
of them. Of course, once in a while you can increase your
stress and try to beat times but…these stages were
 created for pick-up-n-play, when you don’t want to think
too hard or be stressed out, kinda like racing games and
the above stated games etc. Just Enjoy!
Attributes: Gameplay Variety, Boss-Battles Instantly!, Nuff
said.

• Sui Yuki Ukiyo-e – Simply the best! You may think that it plays just
as any other “Retrieve” stage, but I’m excited more
about this stage because of the immense innovation that
went into this stage’s design. I never knew I could design
a stage this perfect. EVERYTHING was done perfectly and
beautifully. Takes multiple-pathways to a whole new
scenic, artistic level. Art design is exquisite! How you flow
through this stage will surely be up to you and the
exploration value is better than ever executed. And, yes,
Tomb Raider had an influence because I got my first
Tomb Raider (Anniversary) during this time. Now, who’s
the world’s best Tenchu 2 Stage Designer!?
Attributes: Exploration, Puzzles, Pretty Stage, Multi-
Pathways, Innovation, Gameplay Variety (slightly).

• Blinded Liberty Lake – I created this stage because I wanted to make

a Suzaku stage (other than the Boss-Battle stage) and
also because I haven’t created a true Suzaku Stage
before. That was mainly because at the time before, I
mainly designed stages that were restricted so that the
use of infinity-walls would set directions for the player to
go (Suzaku’s Stage has none). However, now I’m more
open to maximising the potential of each type of stage to
allow the player to meet different enemies available.
 Blinded Liberty Lake (title) means that you, the player,
will have the freedom to choose his or her pathway
because I have laid out the stage to look more like a real
environment (due to lack of ample infinity-blocks)…and…
so…to cater to those players who would freely run about,
I added the STEALTH option. Hence, their liberty is
blinded and also Suzaku has a blindfold and also you
must not be blind to enemies who haven’t loaded as yet.
Attributes: Freedom, Stealth Tactics the player would
employ given the free environment, Open/Realistic “Stage”
Design.

• Hold On…I’m Lost!? – A KEY pinnacle in the Tenchu 2 Custom Mission

gaming experiences…comes this un-artistic, un-aesthetic
masterpiece! Designing this stage spanned a 2-day, all-
day, period reflecting the extremely huge effort enforced
during design, creation and testing. My Tenchu 2 gaming
experiences, in terms of what can and cannot be done by
means of the controls and character-environment
interaction, are heavily expressed in the entirety of this
stage. Although this stage has a lot of “Holding On”, it
utilises the finer details of stage/environment interaction
to an extreme level. Hold On…I’m Lost!? is a very difficult
stage to complete (or even just to flow through), for most
of the steps to advance require near-perfection of
execution. [I took 10mins the 1st time, to complete the
stage]. Also, this stage has shortcuts, most of them were
spitefully created, some were recently discovered and
there may be some I don’t yet know of. By the way, I only
used a few of the shortcuts to make the 10mins time
because I don’t wanna risk falling in a pitfall after I’ve
reached so far…you’ll understand that when you play it.
Basically, the purpose of the stage is to reach Azuma
Shiunsai. It wasn’t an easy task designing the path to
Azuma nor is it an easy task traversing it. This is truly the
test of all tests in Tenchu 2 gaming. Beat this in any
length of time and you are considered ULTIMATE.
Seriously, even I find it hard to reach some distance in
this stage up to now. This is definitely my FINAL
 GREATEST TENCHU 2 STAGE. Azuma awaits the kings of
Tenchu 2….are you one? Prove it!!!!!!!!
Attributes: Perfection of Execution or Die, Environmental
Puzzles.